Please help. I was given a pdf from a vendor that they created in Framemaker. The pdf was 2+MB. I saved it as a Word doc so I could delete sections that I don't need for our folks but the file is saving at over 20MB (after I deleted a lot of pages from it). It is so large that I cannot even email it. I've tried to zip it and also convert it back to a pdf and in both cases the file only decreases by a few hundred KB while still leaving it over 20+MB. Any idea how I can work this file to take the sections I need without it creating such a large file size? Thank you. Brian
It is not clear what you want to do. If the intent is to return editing information to the vendor, such as which pages to delete, then you can delete them from the PDF and return the result.
I only need sections of the vendor documentation. I would then add preliminary information up front that is specific to my technicians. I would then update the TOC, renumber paragraphs/tables/figures, etc (all with the vendors permission on using their documentation as the focus for my document). I then need to save my Word to pdf to upload it to our document repository but at this point it is just way to large and I think it has something to do with the tables that are used in Framemaker as I do not have this problem working with any other pdf.
{somewhere between possibly and probably} not much help, but whenever I have to get a source file (be it .fm or .docx) from part of a .pdf I start by deleting the unwanted/extracting the wanted pages from the .pdf as plain text. (and extracting the graphics if someone's had the cheek to send me a single .pdf file without its accompanying graphics) Then I …
save the trimmed content as plain text and mark it up as MML; a bit of creative search/replace in Word applies the styles
select the tabbed text that used to be tables and convert it
link the graphics back in.
As it happens, I recently had to send out a user guide this way: I provided the vendors with a .pdf, all the graphics (in .png rather than the original .eps) and a list to show which graphic went where. Up to them to decide how they hoick out the text they want to use, but we've not had any questions or howls of distress so far. Product name starts with YO … if you're one of "my" vendors, get back to me internally :-}
N communicator.ngn
[ps] if despair drives you to consider the .txt-based approach, feel free to gmail me with any questions
Thank you Niels. I believe I may look into getting FrameMaker (if I'm allowed to make that purchase) because all the workarounds seem difficult and time consuming for one document let alone the many that I may be required to do in my new role going forward. Thanks again. Brian
Round the edges of the whole question, if the vendor use FM and give you a .pdf you are allowed to use as a starting point for developing a Word file … they could just as easily give you an .rtf or some other "Word-friendly" format. This would naturally highlight many things Word can't handle as elegantly as FM, but it might make your life a tad easier. I don't know, though, whether the FM output filter is powerful enough to reproduce links to graphics in the .rtf/.doc instead of embedding the graphics and boosting the file-size.
In general, despite advances in Acrobat and as someone said years ago in this forum, "trying to recreate formatted source files from a .pdf is like being given a bowl of chicken soup and asked to recreate the chicken."
I did ask them for the source file but they haven't been forthcoming with that. I may look into the evaluation copy of FM anyway but considering the price ($868 USD through our catalogue supplier) I doubt I would be able to get a licensed copy once the evaluation runs out. I do appreciate the suggestion though. Thank you. Brian
The contractual requirements between the vendor and your company may be the key. The contract may or may not discuss whether the vendor's permission to modify the material includes an obligation to make the documents usable. "Usable" may be construed to mean providing original files. If the vendor is required to provide originals, they may or may not be required to provide them in a common format, like MS Word, rather than the proprietary FrameMaker format they use. Their providing a PDF may completely satisfy their obligation; your lawyers may be helpful here.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
_______________________
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
bmr0330 wrote:
I did ask them for the source file but they haven't been forthcoming with that. I may look into the evaluation copy of FM anyway but considering the price ($868 USD through our catalogue supplier) I doubt I would be able to get a licensed copy once the evaluation runs out. I do appreciate the suggestion though. Thank you. Brian
Edit the PDF files in Acrobat by using the crop tool and if necessary the redaction tool. Delete pages that contain unnecessary content. Add additional pages created from Word where necessary. Add other information to existing pages are using the commenting tools. Not pretty, but will get the job done. Create your own table of contents in the beginning and use the link to link the TOC to the releveant pages. You do not need Frame.
As to the size of the file that they gave you, don't email the file. Post the file on a cloud-based service and provide a link. There are many companies that provide such services.
As to not hearing from the company about them providing the original Frame files, that is not surprising. However, sometimes money talks. How much is it worth to you for them to provide those pages.
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